The Problem With Ecstacy
by Darkfire1
Summary: Trunks helps a girl from school get off a drug called Poison. *Complete!* Warning! Final chapter contains drug od and death!
1. She's Not A Bad Girl

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. There. I said it. Happy now?  
  
A/N: This is a disturbing story. I've had it in my mind for a long time, but I've never really had a place to put it. I think that ff.net is that place. What will happen in here is not for the weak hearted, but it IS for anyone who's trying to help someone through an addiction to alcohol or hard drugs. This is a sensitive subject to many people. The techniques used are not from any programs. It's just what I would do if I were faced with the same situation, with a few obvious differences. The rating is R for the adult subject of illegal drug use and the graphic nature of some of the scenes, however if you have kids who hang with the wrong crowd, PLEASE show them this fic! I'm using DBZ as my medium for a reason. This is a story about HUMAN heroism, not superheroes.  
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CHAPTER 1: SHE'S NOT A BAD GIRL  
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Lina sat in the girls bathroom locked in one of the stalls with her book bag and purse. Her hair had lost it's sheen a long time ago, her once beautiful skin was pallid beneath the tan, and her eyes were lifeless, sunken holes in her head. If a year ago some kind god had shown the wasted girl a picture of her present self, she would never picked up that first needle. She would have stuck to the pot at most, and might have even quit that eventually. But such intervention had not occurred, and the once popular seventeen-year-old girl sat in a bathroom stall with another needle, putting another track in her now-ruined elbow and filling her veins with another dose of the poison she was living on.  
  
The drug had many names, like Sweet and Butterfly and even the vulgar Sex in a Stick, but it had only one true name, and it was Poison. (A/N: I'm not using an actual drug here. I don't know enough about the real thing thankfully to go into detail about their effects, so I made one up.) It hit the pleasure centers of the brain like nothing else, causing it to be so addictive you could hook a newbie with half a dose. And Lina had been hooked just that easily, at a party with a "friend" of hers who's parents were out of town for the weekend.  
  
Now she was a shadow. Her heart was buried in there somewhere, but it's chances of resurrection were so slim you could see through them. She had no life, her friends had abandoned her, her grades had gone from the A's and B's she used to get to straight F's since she no longer did her homework or study for tests, not that she would have comprehended the material even if she had made the effort, and her parents, clueless as always didn't even realize she had a problem. They thought she was just being rebellious, refusing to do her work to spite them. The only reason she went to school anymore was because it had plenty of places to hide, plenty of dark places where she could slowly kill herself and no one would notice. Oh they tried. The drug-sniffing dogs went through the place at least once a month and the cops trashed the lockers about twice that, but they were too regular, too predictable. Kids and dealers alike had no trouble hiding their stashes. In a building as old as that one, it was fairly easy. The kids knew about hidey holes that the adults thought were solid walls.  
  
So Lina sat with her poison as the dreams hit her, sending her into a place far from reality where all was right with the world and pleasure was the food of life, where there was no need for companionship, for parents, for food or water, for education, or anything else, and she died a little more, her body waiting for the time when she would finally end it's torture with a massive overdose. It couldn't be too far away. After all, she wasn't a bad girl. She didn't want the vessel that carried her to suffer.  
xxx  
  
Trunks was a little bored, sitting in math class while the teacher went over the assignment from last night and pointed out a few of the most obvious mistakes that some of the students had made. He let his mind wonder a bit, and once he wasn't paying attention to the student body, he started noticing what his senses were trying to tell him. There was a strange smell in the air, and it was close. He had smelled it a couple of times while on campus, usually masked by other oders to fool the dogs, but his Saiyan senses were even stronger than the obedient animals' and he knew what they did not. This time there was no masking scent. It was stronger, closer than ever before, and untainted. He focused his senses, raising his power level just a tad to aid him, and he pinpointed the source. It was a girl sitting in the back row. She had dull brown hair and wore a long sleeved red shirt under a denim over-alls type dress that looked as if it had been slept in. Her eyes were no where near the class, they were somewhere else, another world. *Yep. She's high on that Poison stuff.* At first all he felt was contempt. He considered her truly weak to allow herself to become so wasted. But he knew that was his father's influence talking. After all, what could have caused her to sink to that level?  
  
It took a week of asking around before he could even find someone who knew her name, but after that it wasn't much trouble to find out who her friends had once been. Lina Ericson had been a junkie for barely a year and her parents didn't even know. All they knew was that their prize was now a failure. He didn't even have to talk to them to know that was how they felt. He saw it when her father picked her up from school, the utter contempt in his eyes. How could a parent act like that? Even Vegeta didn't act like that, and no one would ever put HIM up for father of the year!  
  
Trunks wasn't sure what to do. He knew that the girl was a user, and that was against the law, but that was not the only issue. She would have to be gotten off the drug and healed before she could stop using it. He had researched the substance in his science report for last semester, and he knew that cold turkey, while possibly the best solution, would be difficult at best to impose on her. He had to make her trust him first. Then he would worry about getting her off.  
  
The next Monday, he introduced himself to her. She was sitting at a table in the cafeteria, pecking at the food on her tray. He walked away from Goten, who was chowing at the snack his mother had packed for him, and over to her table. He held out his hand and said, "Hi. I'm Trunks. You're Lina, right?"  
  
She looked up at him with suspicion in her brown eyes. "What do you want?"  
  
"Woah! I just thought you looked kinda lonely. You want to come sit with me and Goten? He eats sloppy, but he's nice, and I won't bite."  
  
She looked over at their table. Sure enough, there was a kid with wild hair stuffing food in his face and getting it all over himself. She giggled, a sound she hadn't uttered for a long time. Well it couldn't hurt. So she smiled a little at Trunks and said, "Sure."  
  
After that she ate with them every day. Goten couldn't help but notice the funny smell, but he didn't make the connection and he thought it would be rude to mention it. Besides, it was faint enough that she probably didn't smell it herself. Goten saw that there was something wrong with her, but Trunks assured him that he was handling the situation, so he left off.  
  
Trunks became a good friend to her over the course of a month, never allowing romance to enter the equation, just being there for her when she needed someone to talk to. She still didn't talk all that much, but when she did it didn't take much for Trunks to realize what had caused her to turn to drugs. Her family didn't really know she existed, or at least they didn't make it known to her if they did. All she was to them was a falling grade point average, at least in her mind, and they never even tried to control her, like they didn't care what she did with her life. She could get away with murder in that house, and she hated the lack of parental concern. She didn't say that to Trunks, of course. She bragged about how she could get anything she wanted, do anything, say anything, and never be punished for it. But he could hear her real emotions in her voice.  
  
Trunks, meanwhile, tried to learn how other people had kicked the habit with Poison. Every story he found, and there weren't many, had involved forced isolation. Trunks didn't want to do that to her. He had gotten her to trust him, and if he locked her away in a room for the three weeks it would take her system to clean out, she would never trust him again. He wouldn't blame her. He came up with a plan. He knew that he couldn't even use senzu beans to help her out because a mind that already had an addiction could easily become hooked on the magic beans, and that would not help her, but he thought he had a solution. Christmas holiday was coming, and that would give them six weeks of no school, the perfect opportunity to get her away from the world and back into life.  
  
He knew that his father would not approve of what he was doing. He could just hear the older Saiyan now. "If she's that weak then let her die!" His mother wouldn't like it either. She would want him to put her into a state-run rehab. She believed in science above all else. And of course, it was all too easy for his father or any of the Z-fighters to find him. All they had to do was look for his ki signature. But he had one way to get around that.  
xxx  
  
Bulma woke with a start to the screaming of the alarms in the lab. Vegeta was up too, and they went to see what had set them off. The computer showed the anti-theft circuitry had been activated. Angered that someone would dare invade his home to steal from him and his, Vegeta got into the room by the most expedient method available. He ripped the door off the hinges. He and Bulma went inside, expecting the perpetrator to still be inside as the doors had been designed to catch a thief so that none of the valuable technology inside would disappear, but no one was there. Taking a quick look around, Bulma found that the only thing that had been disturbed was the bell jar that had contained the ki shield that she had been developing for the Z fighters in the very rare case that they might need to hide from someone who could sense ki. Left beside the shattered jar was a note. It was in Trunks' handwriting! It said, "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you about this, but I don't think that either one of you would truly understand. I have a friend who's been hooked on Poison for more than a year, and I'm taking her to a secluded place where I can get her off it. I'm telling her parents that we're going to a ski lodge for Christmas vacation. I need to be left alone with her. She trusts me, but not hardly anyone else. I couldn't allow them to lock her away in some institution to get her clean, when it's isolation that got her started in the first place. I took the shield cause I know you'll worry and start sending people after me. I wish there was some way I could let you both in on this, but I can't let anything get in the way of her recovery. This is the only way. I hope you won't be too mad at me. I took spare batteries for the shield, too, so it won't give out on me. Sorry. I love you both. Trunks."  
  
Bulma wordlessly handed the note to her husband. He was right. She would have done exactly as he said. She only hoped that he was also right about how to handle this girl. She went to the phone and called the Son house. She would need to know the girl's name in case anything were to happen and if anyone would know everything and still be clueless about it, it would be Goten.  
  
Vegeta looked at the note in confusion. What was the boy thinking? Why would he think that he would not support his efforts with the girl? Then he realized what he had said in the past about drug users and cursed himself. He had meant adults, not children, but Trunks would not make that distinction. He didn't see the difference. He just said, "Damn." and left the lab, leaving Bulma to handle the arrangements.  
xxx  
  
A/N: Well, you like so far? Before any of you ask, no this isn't an excuse for Florence Nightingale syndrome. Please review! I need to know what you all think! Constructive criticism is always welcome but flamers will die! 


	2. Getting Away

Disclaimer: Bite me! Ouch! I didn't mean it literally!  
  
A/N: Well here's chapter two if anyone's interested. I haven't gotten any reviews yet, at least not last time I checked. I hope that the fact that this is a "message fic" isn't turning any of you off. It's still a good story (I hope.) Well any way, here goes.  
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CHAPTER 2: GETTING AWAY  
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Trunks landed in front of Lina's house and knocked on her door. Outwardly he was calm, but his guts were writhing with nervousness and he prayed that this would work. He didn't want to get her in trouble, so he had come up with the vacation story to get her and her parents to agree that she could come with him. He hated the necessity of lying to her and them, but it would otherwise be kidnapping and her habit would be discovered. He knew that Goten's big mouth would eventually allow his mother to contact her parents, he only hoped that she wouldn't blow his cover. The ki shield was already on his wrist, so he didn't have to worry about any of the Z fighters being wrangled into tracking him down or about Vegeta coming after him. He had some time.  
  
The door opened, revealing a tall, pretty woman with brown hair and eyes holding a martini. The stench of alcohol that was coming off her was so strong that he had to fight to keep himself from gagging as she asked, "Yesh? C'n I hulp you?" Apparently Lina wasn't the only one in her family who had a dangerous addiction.  
  
He said, "Can I speak with Lina, please? It's about a trip I'm taking." The drunks woman yelled for her daughter to come answer the door and Trunks waited for her to appear, hoping that she wasn't in the middle of anything, especially a dose.  
  
In a few moments, she came to the door and said, "Yes? Oh, hi, Trunks! What can I do for you?"  
  
"Well, I'm going to a lodge for the Christmas holiday and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me? It'll be six weeks away from everything! There's not even a phone in this place, so your parents wouldn't be able to bug you."  
  
She seemed interested, but she was also worried. What if he found out about her habit? But eventually the desire to be free of her parents for that six weeks got the better of her. She told her mother that she would be going with him for vacation and went upstairs to pack. Trunks couldn't believe that there had been no protest AT ALL from her parents! Didn't they even care? Of course, that was a big part of her problem. They didn't get it at all.  
  
When she came back down with her bags, Trunks encapsulated them and took out his black corvette. She loved his car, which had been a gift from his mother for his sixteenth birthday, and she hopped in. As he drove past the city limit sign, she asked him, "So where is this lodge, anyway?"  
  
"It's up in the mountains. It's really just an old cabin, but I've spruced it up over the last couple of years. It's completely insulated and it has hot and cold running water and central heating, but there's no electricity and no phones. I did that on purpose, because with all the gizmos around the house that Mom's always tinkering with, I just get tired of it all some times and I wanted a place to get away from it all. All I have up there is myself and nature. I even hunt to feed myself. It's not too hard at this time of the year, when you're still getting all the stupid babies. There's plenty to eat, and I'm not a bad cook. The woods around there are gorgeous, especially with the first snows." He was glad that he had never shown the little place to anyone, preferring to use it for his private retreat. No one knew that he had this place. He had bought it under an assumed name, and he had fixed it up using the allowance money that he had saved in a little box ever since he was a kid.  
  
She smiled tiredly. "That sounds great." She thought she would really enjoy these six weeks. She didn't have to worry about anything and she had her entire stash with her, more enough to last six weeks. Mabey she would finally get up the courage to end it while she was in such a beautiful-sounding place.  
  
Trunks was not aware that his passenger was considering suicide, but he WAS aware that she had brought plenty of her Poison with her. Her bag reeked of it. He would have to destroy every bit of the stuff as soon as he could get his hands on it, or he'd have to deal with her when she was in her dreams. That could be dangerous for her, especially if she decided to attack him, thinking he was an enemy. He would never hurt her on purpose, but when someone in the throes of Poison dreams started fighting they didn't feel any pain or fear, and they could easily hurt a normal person. But if she attacked Trunks, she'd hurt herself, badly. One punch and she would break her hand.  
  
They drove on through the night, Trunks stopping occasionally to let her eat or go to the bathroom. He didn't eat anything himself, wanting to wait until he could get himself some fresh venison. He noticed that she didn't eat a lot, even for a human, and that worried him. It probably meant that she was getting close to the time when her need for the drug would start announcing itself with pain. He wanted to get her to the cabin before that happened.  
xxx  
  
Bulma stared at her son's bedroom in disbelief. His dresser was gone, as were the bed, one suitcase and several small items and pictures. He had most likely encapsulated them, and wherever he had gone, he had gone prepared for a long stay. She felt the tears starting to well up in her eyes. Damn. She had promised herself that she wouldn't cry! After all, he was doing what he thought was right, and by the looks of things he had put a lot of thought into it. But she wished that he had felt that he could tell her what he had been planning. That was what hurt the most, that he hadn't felt that he could trust her with the information, and worse, that he had been right. She would have gone straight to the cops and had the girl locked up for her own benefit, leaving her to face the coming withdrawal alone.  
  
As she tried to restrain her tears, she felt Vegeta come up behind her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, knowing that she was trying not to break down, and that she needed to cry. She took his silent offer of solace and turned to him, letting the sobs come as she buried her head in his chest. He put his arms around his wife, just holding her and stroking her hair, letting her cry herself out. He had learned a lot about how to deal with feelings after having died for the second time, and he knew that this was what she needed.  
  
Vegeta was angry with himself for not thinking when he had mentioned his feelings about users. He felt that if they wanted to kill themselves slowly instead of quickly, then they should be allowed to, but that was not a decision that he would give to a child. This girl would be about the same age as his son, and she should not be faced with the kind of life that would lead to drug use, suicide and so many other forms of self torture. He remembered what it was like for him at that age, so full of rage and pain that with the added burden of the hormones of adolescence he had tried more than once to do himself in, but Frieza had never allowed him to die, preferring to keep him alive and entertaining. No child should have to go through that.  
  
No, Trunks would not have realized that he was speaking only of adults. If grown men and women decided to kill themselves slowly, then that was their weakness, and their choice, but a child? No. He couldn't countenance that. He only wished that he could tell his son that. With that ki shield on, there was no way to find him and tell him.  
xxx  
  
When Trunks pulled into the pebble drive, it was close to sunrise. Lina was asleep on the passenger seat and she looked like a fallen angel. He went around to the passenger door, opened it and picked her up. She didn't make a sound or move at all as he took her into the house and into the bedroom where he'd already set everything up the night before. He wished for a moment that he had dared fly her up here. It would certainly have reduced all the time constraints that he had managed to get tangled up in. But he didn't want to strain the shield. It hadn't really been tested on high power levels and he didn't want the damn thing to quit on him just because he had been impatient to get here.  
  
He set her on the bed and left to encapsulate the car. He took her luggage capsule out of the little refrigerator in his jacket pocket and activated it. The scent of the drug wafted to him in the smoke of the capsule, sickly sweet , but not so strong that it was overpowering. He started going through the bags one by one finding the needles, the rubber tourniquet, and the raw powder that she mixed with a tiny amount of water in the syringe. His sense of smell helped him locate every single bag of the stuff, hidden in every imaginable crevice and cranny in the various pieces of luggage. He was about to take them outside and destroy them with a small burst of his ki when the girl who he was trying to help walked out of the bedroom and saw what he had in his hands.  
  
Her eyes widened in surprise and fear. He knew! The bastard had known all along about her habit! "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"  
  
"I'm sorry I lied to you, Lina, but this was all I could think of. I can't let you keep hurting yourself. It's going to be a hard road, but you won't have to walk it alone. I'll be here for you for as long as it takes." Then he turned and walked outside, the pile of instruments and white bags still in his hands.  
  
It was then that she realized exactly what he intended to do. She ran after him and screamed, "NO!!!" but it was too late! He had set everything on the ground and he stood back a bit. He saw her coming and caught her around the shoulders before she could reach her precious stash. Then he reached back with one arm, his hand out flat. A small ball of energy grew within his palm to about the size of a tennis ball, then launched itself toward the pile, instantly catching the whole thing on fire as if it had been covered in gasoline and he had thrown in a match. She screamed again, then turned eyes filled with hatred on Trunks and threw a punch at his head. He easily blocked it, catching her fist in his palm. "Damn you, you bastard! What the hell's wrong with you!? Don't you know what's going to happen in a few hours? You have to get me back to civilization! I have to get more stuff!"  
  
He shook his head. "No. You're getting clean, and this is the only way to do it. You have to go cold. It isn't going to be easy, but--."  
  
"Oh my God, you're a fucking lunatic! The pain alone will kill me!"  
  
"No, it won't. I won't let you die, slowly or quickly. You aren't doing this alone. You'll never be alone again, I promise you. You can get through this, and when you do, you'll never have to deal with it again, and you'll always have a place to turn when the feelings that made you get on that stuff in the first place come up again. You'll never have to turn to a damn needle again!" He pushed the sleeve of her shirt up until it was above her elbow. "Look at what this has done to you! You used to be alive! And now all you are is a walking corpse! But I know from experience that death doesn't have to be a permanent thing. You can come back! Are you willing to try?"  
xxx  
  
A/N: Cliffhanger! ^_^ Don't kill the author! What's going to happen, hmm? Will they be found before Lina has a chance to heal? Will the withdrawal symptoms kill her? Will she try to do something rash? Find out in the next chapter! 


	3. Withdrawal

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ! How many times must I say it?!!!!  
  
A/N: I seem to be doing this for no one but myself. :( Please review! I need to know what you people are thinking!  
  
WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC WITHDRAWAL SCENES  
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CHAPTER 3: WITHDRAWAL  
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Lina looked at Trunks strangely. "I didn't ask for you're help! Did you ever think that mabey I was doing this because I enjoy it?" She didn't, of course, but that was beside the point. "It's my choice! God! Why couldn't you just kill me? It would be less painful and a hell of a lot quicker than what's about to happen!"  
  
He sighed. "Lina, will you try? I want you to be free of this. I am your friend, and it kills me to see you wasted. Did you think that no one would notice? I've seen you high enough to hear the angels singing at least five different times! I know that this is going to hurt, but you'll never have to go back." He paused, deciding to try a different method. "Look, this is a one shot deal. If you go back to the needle, I'll turn you in. They'll lock you up for your own good, and you'll be alone in that cell for as long as they can hold you. I don't want to have to do that. I don't think that isolation is the answer for you. But I won't let you destroy yourself."  
  
She glared at him. "Fine, bastard! But if I die from the pain, you better believe I'm coming back to haunt you!" With that she jerked her arm out of his hand and turned to go back into the house.  
  
He didn't want to hurt her feelings, but he knew that it was going to be unavoidable. She'd get over it. What he had to deal with now was the coming withdrawal. It was going to be hell.  
xxx  
  
Gohan and Goten walked through the front door of the Capsule Corp. mansion. They had both come at the request of Bulma to find out where Trunks was and who this girl was that he was helping. Goten had already figured out who she was. It had to be Lina. He had noticed that funny smell on her all the time, but he hadn't recognized it. Trunks had become her friend, and he watched her all the time, enough that Goten had tried to tease his friend about having a crush, but he had just smiled and told him that he was wrong about that. They were just friends. Good friends.  
  
Gohan figured that Bulma wanted him there because he had stronger mental powers than anyone else and could find someone who was blocking their ki. He just wasn't sure if he would be able to do what she wanted. Oh he could definitely find the teenaged Saiyan, but Trunks obviously didn't want to be found. He didn't want the girl to be caught by the authorities for her habit. He wanted to help her himself so that she didn't end up institutionalized or imprisoned or both. Gohan respected that, and he wouldn't blow their cover. There was really no reason to do that, not even parental anxiety.  
  
Bulma smiled at the two and told them to be seated. They both took a position on the couch. "I've told you both what's going on. I need a couple of things. Goten, I need to know the girl's name who Trunks is trying to help. I'll need to be able to contact her parents if anything goes wrong."  
  
Goten nodded. "Lina Ericson."  
  
She turned to Gohan. "I want you to find him. I don't expect you to betray anything he says to you in confidence, nor do I want you to tell me where he's hiding. What I want is for you to give him this." She held out her hand. Inside her palm was a 911 phone, an emergency cell phone that could only dial one number. It would reach anywhere as long as there was a station within a hundred miles. She said, "Sometimes Poison withdrawal can be bad enough to stop the heart. He needs to be able to contact someone for emergency care." She saw the surprised look on her face and said, "Don't look at me like that. I've had time to think about what Trunks said. He was right. I would have done exactly what he said I would, no matter the consequences to the girl." She sighed. "Just make sure he gets that."  
  
Gohan nodded, and left the room, going out into the back yard to meditate. It would take that to find Trunks if he was both suppressing his ki and being shielded.  
xxx  
  
At the very first, it wasn't so bad. As the time for Lina's dose came and passed, she mostly just felt the craving for it, like you might crave chocolate. However as the day wore on, she started getting agitated. Her pulse went up slightly and she started to feel a dull ache in the muscles of her back and shoulders, like from tension. Even this was pretty bearable.  
  
However by the end of the day, as the sun set, fire was racing through her veins and behind her eyes. Dull, throbbing pain beat at her temples and into her brain, suddenly deprived of the pleasure stimulant that had flooded it for so long. Her skin was hyper-sensitive, and even the slightest touch of the fabric of her clothes was enough to cause pain. She ended up stripping. Trunks didn't allow his embarrassment to intrude. He knew, at least in theory, what the girl was going through. That was why he had brought the fur blanket. It was softer. She sat nude on the bed, pain wracking her body and he couldn't touch her to comfort her while she was at this stage or he'd only make it worse. He just sat beside the bed, keeping watch and ignoring the mouth he was getting from her, though at times he marveled at her inventiveness when it came to cursing.  
  
When the first wave passed, Lina was exhausted. She fell asleep on the bed and he covered her with a sheet, knowing that the next wave would hit her soon and she needed to sleep now, while she could. He lay on his own bedroll, knowing that he would be getting just as little sleep as she. He was nearly out when the approach of a familiar ki caused him to curse softly. Damn! Trust Gohan to be able to pierce the ki shield. Trunks stood as quietly as possible and left the bedroom, going to the door of the cabin to await his friend's arrival.  
  
Gohan landed on the gravel drive and spotted a familiar figure in the doorway. "Hello, Trunks."  
  
The younger Saiyan motioned for him to be quiet. He whispered, "Hello. She's sleeping. That won't last long, so keep it down." Gohan nodded. Trunks said, "Are you going to turn us in?" He dreaded the answer, but he didn't let it show on his face. He had at least learned that from his father.  
  
But Gohan surprised him. He shook his head. "No. Your mother has realized you were right. She gave me this. She said that you might need emergency contact just in case she goes into arrest." He sighed. "They're proud of you, you know." He smirked. "More than a little pissed off, but proud anyway."  
  
Trunks smiled. "What about Goten?"  
  
"He's just mad that he didn't figure it out for himself. He noticed the smell just like you did, but he never thought much of it. In fact he had thought that it would be rude to tell her she smelled bad when probably only a Saiyan nose could detect it."  
  
He snorted. "Well I think I'd better go get some sleep while I can. It's going to be a long six weeks."  
  
Gohan nodded. "I'll go then. I'll drop by about twice a week to see how things are going. See ya." With that he lifted off, hoping that Trunks never had to use that phone and that the girl would make it out of this intact.  
xxx  
  
Lina woke in pain. It flowed over her skin like acid and ate into her muscles and bones, pounding in her skull and shooting through her spine. Every part of her hurt at the least provocation, and soon she was writhing on the bed in her agony. Her cries awoke her keeper, and he moved to the side of the bed. He could only watch until this part of the withdrawal passed, knowing that he couldn't hold her to ease the pain.  
  
For about ten hours, they went through cycle after cycle of pain and unconsciousness. Then the hallucinations started. She started seeing spiders and roaches, mice, snakes, all of them coming after her, crawling on her. Trunks had to hold her down to keep her from trying to rip out pieces of skin that she thought were bugs or ripping her hair out when she mistook it for worms or snakes. For twelve hours straight, it was one nightmare after another, wolves, zombies, ax murderers, falling off a cliff. When it was finally over, she collapsed in exhaustion, slipping into a fitful sleep that was still occasionally haunted by nightmares.  
  
When she woke, Trunks had a light broth for her to drink. She couldn't eat anything substantial, as it would come right back up, but the broth had protein and salt and it would keep her strength up.  
xxx  
  
Four days of pain and dreams followed the same pattern set by the first. Sometimes Trunks couldn't touch her at all for the pain and others he had a hard time holding her well enough to keep her from hurting herself.  
  
Finally the initial withdrawal broke and things settled down a bit. Lina still craved the Poison. The craving ate at her until it was all she could think about. She would have done anything to get Trunks to give her more of it or let her leave and get more herself. She'd scream and rant, bite and kick, try to run away. At one point, she even ran for the cliffs at the back of his property and tried to throw herself off, but he caught her and pulled her back into the house.  
  
At night, the nightmares still clawed at her. Many times she woke up screaming her head off that there was something trying to kill her. Once she even dreamed that Trunks had tried to kill her, but he was able to dispel the dream by hugging her fiercely. She knew that he would never really try to hurt her, and she broke down, sobbing into his shirt.  
xxx  
  
About two weeks into their stay at the cabin, the cravings eased enough that her mind started working again. She started becoming very inventive in ways to get what she wanted, though none ever succeeded. The worst one was at the end of the third week. Trunks had just come in from hunting with a deer in his arms. The animal was already cleaned and dressed and he hung it over the barbecue pit in the back yard.  
  
She came out to watch as he seasoned the carcass and started turning it on the spit. He was always able to cook the meat well and quickly so that he didn't burn it, and even for the whole animal, it usually only took an hour. She knew that only a small portion of the venison would go to her. His appetite was truly awe inspiring.  
  
Once the meat was done, he took the dear off and started carving the meat off the bones. He gave her her portion and they ate together in companionable silence. She started inching closer to him on the rock they were sitting on, and he looked at her, wondering what she was up to now. She put her plate on the ground and smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his chest. Surprised, he looked down at her. She said, "Thank you."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For sticking it out with me. I know I've been a bitch to you, and you didn't deserve it. You've only been trying to help me." She stood up and moved around to stand in front of him, putting both her arms underneath his and staring at his face. She reached up with her head and kissed him, a kiss that quickly turned passionate and pleading.  
  
Trunks took hold of her shoulders and gently pushed her back, breaking the hold she had on his torso. She opened her eyes to stare at him, a hurt look coming to her face. "Why?" She knew that he wanted her, at least at that moment, at least physically.  
  
He looked into her eyes, searching for the truth, and to his regret he found it. He sighed heavily and said, "Because it's not me you want." He looked at her again, and though he tried to hide it some of the pain he was feeling leaked into his expression. He stood and went inside the house, leaving her staring at his retreating back, and trying not to break down and cry in front of her.  
xxx  
  
A/N: Well, here's the next chapter, guys. Sorry it took me so long, but I wanted to be really careful with this scene. He's her friend, so of course the constant proximity and her vulnerability will have some affect on him, but it was important that he not give in to that. She would just be using him, and he couldn't allow that for either of their sakes.  
  
There will probably be two more chapters to end this out. I have no idea how long they will take, but there you go. Please review! 


	4. The Problem With Ecstacy

Disclaimer: Kiss my rosy red @$$!  
  
A/N: Was that over the top? Anyway this is the last chapter. I know I said two, but I couldn't seem to stretch it that far. I didn't want to deal with the parents or turn this into a Law and Order parody. Enjoy, and don't forget to review!  
  
________________________________________  
CHAPTER 4: THE PROBLEM WITH ECSTACY  
________________________________________  
It took time, even after the drug was completely out of her system, for Lina to stop craving it. Little by little, she was able to train herself away from the longing, getting back to a healthier way of living. She started to realize what she had done to herself over the past year. She would look at her arms and just start crying, knowing that the scars would never leave her.  
  
She started opening up to Trunks, pouring her heart out to him on more than one occasion. She told him of everything that had led her to the life of partying and lesser drugs that she had lived for so long. She'd had her first joint at thirteen, her first shot of vodka at twelve. She had never had a loving family, and they never really cared as they saw her change before their eyes from the sad little waif into the careless and daring teenager, a girl who would do anything, answer any stupid dare or challenge, go to any party, no matter what was being served up. That she had never been arrested was a miricle, concidering some of the wild things she had done over the years.  
  
And then, of course, she had been invited to THAT party. Ishandra's parents had been gone for the weekend, so she had invited the entire party population of Satan City into her living room. It had been an opportunity that the higher class pushers had been unable to resist, and there had been one there for every designer on the market, good China White, high quality cocaine, ecstacy, crank, meth, and anything else you could think of. There was also one selling rohipnol to the guys, though that one actually wasn't making many sales. This party wasn't into that.  
  
The Poison dealer, a very popular senior at Orange Star Highschool, was smooth. He knew exactly how to tempt a sophomore into his web, playing on their troubles and being the sympathetic ear. He let her yak on about how no body cared, and finally told her that he had something that would make all the pain go away. He showed her how to work the tourniquet, how to fill the needle safely, making sure that there were no bubbles, and how to find a vein, and then let her inject herself. He hadn't charged her, but he had only given her a small dose, not even half what he sold to his vets. He knew that she had never had anything more than a drink and a joint in her life, so he knew that if he wanted to make her into a customer, he would have to make sure that she didn't come to harm from her first attempt. He was a ruthless business man, and he knew that killing his newbies off was not a good way to run his business.  
  
Her first dreams were enough to addict her for keeps. When she came out of them, she shelled out a great deal of money for her first supply, and since money was no object to her oblivious parents, she didn't have any trouble keeping herself supplied. As her life started to fall into the deadly cycle of high and low, her grades fell, her mind froze, and her parents were merely dissapointed in her GPA, never asking her what was wrong or even getting mad at her or accusing her of slacking off.  
  
She told Trunks all these things over the last three weeks of their Christmas vacation, and he let her cry on his shoulder. He knew that the battle was far from over. She would be fighting the actual addiction for the rest of her life, though not in as spectacular a fashion as she had at the cabbin. However, he made sure that she knew that she would never be alone in the struggle. She would always have him to turn to if she ever started feeling the need again, if she ever started feeling that the world would collapse around her ears. He spent every waking moment ensuring that she would always trust him enough to tell him anything.  
  
Finally, the day had come for her to return home. He had decided to go with her, just in case she had a confrontation with her parents. They were just about ready to leave when Gohan landed in the front. He smiled at Lina and waved for Trunks to come talk to him. "Yeah, Gohan, what is it? We were just about to head home."  
  
Gohan's smile had disapeared. He sighed heavily. "Trunks, her parents found a bag in her room."  
  
A scowl creased his face. "Shit. What are they doing about it?"  
  
The older Saiyan looked at his young friend. "They were to worried about their reputation. She's been checked into a private rehab center. Bulma asked me to warn you so you could get her out of their way. She says that the best way to fix it would be to check her into CC's rehab center that they opperate for employees with problems. That way you won't have to worry about her getting turned in to the cops by the staff or them not believing that she's clean, and they'll let you in to see her since she already trusts you. More than that, once she's checked in, they can't take her to some other facility against her will and she can lock out her parents' access to her. She won't have to face them until she's ready. Bulma only keeps top quality doctors in that place and her standards are twice what the state's are. The place her parents picked out has been cited by the state more than once."  
  
"Damn. We've got to tell her."  
xxx  
  
They told her everything and then Trunks asked her, "So what do you want to do? I'll support whatever decision you make."  
  
Lina sighed heavily. Her parent's hadn't even cared enough to get her the best care money could buy, even though she knew that they had more than enough to pay for her to stay at CC's rehab. They had just picked the cheepest one that would keep their dirty little secret from getting out. Well she didn't plan on obliging them in that! "Trunks, could you recomend a good lawyer?"  
  
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Gohan's the best lawyer I know, though he's actually a prosecutor."  
  
She turned to Gohan. "Do you think you can get me a suspended sentence with treatment and the provision that I be sent to the CC facility if I turn myself in willingly?"  
  
At first Gohan stared at her. He was surprised, to say the least. Then he thought out what she had asked him. He did know a few judges who would be amenable to that kind of solution. But why would she be willing to taint her record like that? Her parents. He grinned. "Yeah, I don't think it would be a problem. Since you're cooperating with the law and accepting both punishment and help, most judges will be sympathetic. How many do you want at the press conference?" For that was what she was after. She wanted her parents to pay for their neglect over the years, and blowing their little secret would be the perfect way to do it.  
  
She grinned right back at him, glad that he had caught on so quickly to her plan. "Every major network you can get your hands on. Let them know that once I get out, I'll be starting a rehab plan of my own, confidentially, through the school system. And the judge gets the name of the dealer who hooked me."  
  
"Good. He needs to be stopped." He looked over at Trunks and noticed a Vegeta-esque looke in his eyes. "Trunks, I'd better not hear that the guy suddenly disapeared or ends up maimed in his sleep or anything once he's been caught." At the look of false innocence that followed, the older Saiyan scowled. "I know you, Trunks, and you inherited your father's sense of 'justice.' Even if there's no evidence that the cops can find, I'll know if you did it, and I'll come after you myself if the law can't, got it?"  
  
Trunks growled sullenly and nodded. "Fine. Ruin my fun."  
  
Gohan grinned, knowing it was a joke and that he would comply. "All right, Lina. Get all of your stuff in the car and you two head for Satan City. I'll meet you at the police station. You're doing the right thing. Hopefully this will make people think twice before getting into this stuff. Hmm, by the way, is there any more in your house or at the school? We'll need to hand it over to the police."  
  
"Yeah, my locker has a false back. There's about a week's worth in there, three bags, and the emergency stash in the girls' bathroom on the second floor, under a loose tile underneath the heater vent. That's all."  
  
"All right. I'll fly back and get everything ready to get started. I'll have to start grabbing judges and calling reporters. You two drive in and head for the police station. I'll also call Bulma so she can meet us there. I have the feeling it's going to be a good idea to have her kind of public heft behind us on this case. I also have to tell the D.A. that I'm taking on a pro bono case and won't be able to handle the Jackson file. Don't worry. Even in the legal world, being a Saiyan has it's advantages, speed being the biggest one. I'll be done with all that in time. Well I'd better get going."  
  
Trunks said, "Say hi to Mom for me, and tell her we'll talk when I get back." Gohan nodded and then took to the sky. Trunks turned to Lina. "Are you ready?"  
  
"I just have a few more things to put in the car."  
  
"No, are you ready for this? The publicity and the controversy you're about to kick up?"  
  
She sighed and smiled sadly at him. "No. But this is the best solution. And I really feel that I should do this anyway. What I've been doing is wrong, and now that I'm free of it, it's time to pay the consequenses. The controversy will bring this situation into the public eye. I didn't even know what Poison was when the guy at the party gave me my first needle. He told me it would take me away from the pain, and I believed him. This needs to hit the news stands."  
xxx  
  
/Satan City Municiple Court: Case #42856: People v. Ericson. Charges: 1 Abuse of a Controlled Substance, 1 Posession of a Controlled Substance. Plead guilty. Suspended sentence, drug therapy program, upon cooperation with police concerning the capture and indictment of Daniel Moris for Controlled Substance charges./  
xxx  
  
/Orange Star Herald, school newspaper, front page, article by Son Goten/  
We often fail to realize what is going on around our ears. It's what is most familliar to us, most difficult for us to see. We're too busy examining the bug on the leaf in front of our noses to realize that the forest is burning. This recently happened to me concerning a friend of mine. He had made a new friend, and this friend had a problem, but I was too busy teasing the two of them for being friends of opposite gender to realize that she had a problem. This problem was Poison.  
  
My friend knew, and he helped her, virtually kidnapping her and issolating her in his cabbin in the woods to get her clean. She's doing fine now in Capsule Corporation's private rehabilitation center, but if my friend had been as unobservant as myself, this girl would most likely now be dead.  
This article is a plea for the rest of the student body to be observant. These are some of the signs and symptoms of drug abuse.[1]  
  
Abrupt changes in work or school attendance, quality of work, work output, grades, discipline.   
  
Unusual flare-ups or outbreaks of temper.   
  
Withdrawal from responsibility.   
  
General changes in overall attitude.   
  
Deterioration of physical appearance and grooming.   
  
Wearing of sunglasses at inappropriate times.   
  
Continual wearing of long-sleeved garments particularly in hot weather or reluctance to   
wear short sleeved attire when appropriate.   
  
Association with known substance abusers.   
  
Unusual borrowing of money from friends, co-workers or parents.   
  
Stealing small items from employer, home or school.   
  
Secretive behavior regarding actions and possessions; poorly concealed attempts to avoid attention and suspicion such as frequent trips to storage rooms, restroom, basement, etc.   
  
Please, if you notice these signs in your friends or those around them, get them to talk to you or someone they can trust. Don't nessessarily turn them over to the police, but get them to talk to someone. This has to be the first step.  
xxx  
  
Eleven years later, OSHS Class Reunion...  
Lina walked into the old gym with trepidation. She was almost certain that she would only be remembered as a junkie, a Butterfly, a Poison addict. But she had let her mother talk her into coming anyway. She smiled. It had taken a lot of work, but she and her parents had managed to seal the rift that had been a part of her life for so long.  
  
The gym had been decorated with all the frills of their senior prom, the DJ in the corner already having a blast. Lina looked around and suddenly spotted a purple head. She grinned and headed to where he was standing. When she got within ten feet of his position, she shouted, "Trunks!"  
  
His head whipped around. He saw her and a wide grin swept over his face. "Lina! Hey, it's great to see you! It's nearly been a year, huh? That conference at CC on the funding for the Center."  
  
"Yeah. I still can't believe they tried to pull it as being unnessessary! I still want to get my hands on the little worm who tried to pull that stunt. Did you ever find out what he wanted the money for?"  
  
"Apparently, Mr. Satan was trying to get the funding diverted to set up a dojo on CC property. Mom found out and called Videl, who just about fried his ass!" Lina laughed with him. Then she noticed a face she hadn't seen since before the cabbin. "What the hell is Moris doing here?"  
  
Trunks turned around quickly. He spotted the pusher in the crowd and felt his anger rising. He had promised himself once his conviction was anounced that he would never lay a hand on the man, but seeing him out and free made his blood hot. He and Lina stalked to where the man was standing. But when they got a good look at him, their anger dissipated. He stood there, his eyes blank, his hair uncombed, his face unshaved, unsteady on his feet. He looked like he had been sleeping in his clothes and he seemed hollowed out. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and the needle tracks in his arms were pronounced and old. He was less than a shell of what he had been ten years ago. There was nothing left of the shrewd bastard who had sold to children. All that stood before them was a human husk, dried up and ready to fall away. The scent of Poison was very strong on him, and he looked like he was actually in the middle of his dreams. He was so far gone that he didn't care that he was in a public place. He was close to death, though he was still concious.  
  
Lina said quietly, "I'll call an ambulance. But I think it's too late." She pulled out her cell phone from her purse and called the Center to send an ambulance for a possible o.d. in progress. Trunks aproached Moris, well aware, that even in this stage of fall out he could be dangerous to those around him. But before he got there, the man collapsed. As he hit the floor, blood started pouring from his mouth and nose, as well as a clear, viscous fluid. That was it. His eyes were still open, staring into space, but they no longer saw what was before them. He was dead. Trunks couldn't hear his heart or his lungs any more.  
  
Trunks knealt beside the pitiful heap of death and closed it's eyes. He then took one of the paper table cloths off the buffet tables and covered the body. He stood there and kept people away while they waited for the coroner and the police to get there. One of the girls from their class walked up to stand beside him and Lina. It was Ishandra, the girl who's party it had been that got Lina hooked. She looked at the still form and said, "He always said that Poison was like ecstacy."  
  
Lina nodded. "It was. But the problem with ecstacy is that it isn't permanent, and once it goes away, it leaves you feeling empty and believing that you still need it. The problem with ecstacy is that it kills you by letting you think it is your friend."  
xxx  
  
A/N: Well that's the end. Sorry this last chapter took so long to get out, but I've been a little busy. Anyway, please review! And the site below is where I got that list of signs and symptoms. Please, if you know someone who is facing an addiction or are faced with one yourself, please contact your local Alanon or Narcanon service. They really can help. Don't wait!  
  
[1]http://www.addictions.org/signs.htm 


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